Thursday, April 2, 2009

Central Oregon

To our many friends!

Here are the bullet points of what I have written about this week:
  • I "whined" a little about getting this blog out late
  • I wrote about "bearing fruit!" (You must read this section!)
  • I give the definition of STADIA INTERNATIONAL-JONATHAN PROJECT
  • This is how you can contact me

OK, OK already! I am writing this three days late. Seriously, as I mentioned in our last blog Judy and I have been traveling. It has been good as we have experienced the Hand of God in the lives of the people we are seeing and visiting as well as experiencing HIS Hand in our own personal lives.

One of the key ways I sense God's Hand moving in our lives is not in the geographical travel but rather in the hearts and lives of the people we are hearing from and meeting.
  • This past Tuesday, we had a call from a close friend of many years ago. She had a couple visiting her we had loved into the Kingdom over thirty years ago. This couple, just recently retired, have chosen to serve the Lord full time in these retirement years. As Judy and I listened to their story we were overwhelmed with the love of God. Sometimes we do not have the privilege or opportunity to see the "fruit" of ministry. On the evening of March 31, 2009, we heard it all confirmed in a phone call!
  • I had breakfast with a Pastor this week, who has been preaching and serving the Lord faithfully for close to forty years. This Easter, 2009, he will be leading the church he has served for over 30 years, into a brand new facility. I suspect over 2,000 people will be in those Easter services. I had this Pastor in a Youth Group I led when I was a second year preaching student- that is 49 years ago! He was in the 5th grade! He remembered those years of ministry relationship, long ago, with great fondness. Ah...more fruit!
  • Just last week I had a dinner meal with three wonderful folk- all people I have ministered to over the years at varying levels of involvement! The church these three serve has been numbering close to 2500 in weekend worship services. Amazing...more fruit!
  • Don't be fooled by the numbers in the churches mentioned above. God is alive and well in the hearts and lives of people in ministries of 100, in Home Groups, in families and of course in the lives of individual people.
  • Remember I Samuel 14:6: "Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few." (NIV)
Why do I tell you these things? Because we must be encouraged and we must never lose sight of the fact that what God is doing is developing people and building ministries all to His glory!

Among other reasons, that is why I am so drawn to the STADIA INTERNATIONAL-JONATHAN PROJECT possibilities! "Fruit" for eternity will come from these God-ordained efforts. And the "fruit" will be men and women, boys and girls, who will have heard the Name of Jesus for the very first time and who will then have decided to follow HIM no matter the cost!

Let me remind you again what STADIA INTERNATIONAL-JONATHAN PROJECT is all about. "The SI/JP is all about training global Jonathan's (I Samuel 14:6) who will plant indigenous, multiplying churches (primarily "house churches") in difficult, unreached people groups, within the context of who they are and what they have, without the continued, long term financial support of American Churches." I know that is a "mouthful!" But that is what SI/JP has been called to do in this generation.

If you would like to jump on board and know more about this global vision, feel free to contact me at 714.488.7922 or reach me through email: graydon.jessup@gmail.com

What an exciting venture!

Graydon Jessup

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Those are encouraging notes - it's a blessing to hear of seed planted years ago that is still bearing fruit - because rightly does the Word say that His Word will fulfill the purpose for which He sent it out in the first place.

What a great testimony and what great excitment as you continue to invest in the Jonathon Project.

A Friend Who Follows